“The Forest Seasons” – The Rest of the Story

I’d like to correct and clarify a few things about the review I recently wrote about Wintersun’s “The Forest Seasons.” At the time of the review, I didn’t know some crucial details. I’ll share these with you now:

This was not, as such, a Wintersun band project. Essentially everything you hear on the record, short of the chorus and backing vocals, were written and performed by Jari. This includes the drums.

Yes, that’s right. It’s all Jari, musically. He plays all the guitars, all the bass, and created all the orchestration.

This was not a fact that was well establish during the marketing of the album. We knew, Jari being Jari, that he did a lot of the stuff on his own, but I was under the impression that the other members came in and laid down their tracks in some form or fashion.

Because of the history of the band, it being essentially a one-man operation initially, we know that he’s capable. Traditionally, though, musical projects of this sort find themselves in need of, at the least, a drummer (provided that the major musical force doesn’t play the drums).

Apparently, due to the lack of time and space in a studio, Jari elected to skip this step, and use synthetic drums.

Yes, that’s right. Kai didn’t play on the album, and the drums are programmed. Mind=blown. I was totally fooled. The drums sound great. The programming and fidelity Jari managed kind of knocks me for a loop. That being said, from hearing a live version of the first track with Timo Hakkinen playing the drums, these tunes will rock a little harder in the live setting.

Does this revelation take away from my enjoyment of the album? No. I’m sad that the rest of the guys aren’t heard on the album, but it is what it is. My level of respect for Jari’s production chops has moved up a notch. One can detract, saying that programmed drums are not in the spirit metal, of course. Remember, though, that Jari had to write all of the drum parts, and contrive to create them. He did a good enough job to fool me, even after a lot of listens. There are some very intricate drum parts on The Forest Seasons. The drums DO NOT let the record down, in my mind.

In any case, as a correction, I have to let you know that the bass, the guitars, everything is Jari here.